Women's Track & Field at NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships

National Champion! Amelia Campbell breaks NCAA Championships record in winning the pentathlon

DAY 2 Recap -- Kao Sutton breaks school record again, first Knight All-American in shot put

LINCOLN, Neb. — Carleton College sophomore standout Amelia Campbell (Sturgeon Bay, Wis.) put an exclamation mark on historic indoor track and field season by winning the pentathlon on day one of the NCAA Championships. Campbell totaled 3,884 points over the five events. That is both the second-highest total in NCAA Division III history and a new D-III Championships meet record.

Campbell, who established the all-time Division III pentathlon record (3,914 points) at last week’s MIAC Championships, notched an 86-point victory over Jessika Smith of University of Wisconsin-Stout. There were a total of 17 qualifiers for the pentathlon.

“It’s one thing to be ranked No. 1 going into the national championships,” said Carleton head coach Donna Ricks, “but it’s another thing in your first time at nationals to go out and follow through and accomplish those marks required to be a national champion.”

Campbell became is only the third Carleton female track and field athlete to win a national indoor title and the first to do so since 1998 when Knight greats Lisa Kelly ’88 (high jump) and Anna (Prineas) Catanese '89 (3000-meter run) both captured NCAA titles. Campbell is the 15th Carleton female student-athlete to win an individual national title and the first since individual national champion, male or female, since Kelly Lovett ’11 won the javelin at the national outdoor meet in 2011.

Campbell started Friday by completing the 60-meter hurdles in 8.89 seconds, only 0.01 second off her school-record time and earning her 933 points, two off the leader. She followed that up by clearing a height of 1.60 meters (5 feet, 3 inches) to tie for second in the high jump. Points are award by performance not placement, so even though she tied for the second in the event, Campbell found herself trailing Enuma Ezenwa of Christopher Newport after the first two events.

Next up was the shot put, with Campbell improving her distance on each toss. Her final attempt established a new personal record with her throw of 11.75 meters (38 feet, 6.75 inches). That mark moved her into fourth all-time at Carleton, and although it was fifth in the event on this day, it was also enough to give Campbell a four-point lead overall.

She extended the margin with a distance of 5.55 meters (18 feet, 2.5 inches) on her first clean attempt at the long jump. That was easily tops among the competitiors on this day and only three centimeters shy of her personal best.

The busy day concluded with the 800-meter run, and Campbell entered the event with 3029 points, a 39-point margin over Smith.

“Amelia is such a competitor,” said Ricks. “She knew that (the point total) gave her only about a 2.5-second advantage on Smith from UW-Stout, so Amelia knew that she needed to stay in front of her. That gal came up and tried to challenge her, but Amelia took one look and just took off and had a tremendous PR there. She fought for everything today and earned it.”

Campbell smashed her previous-best mark at this distance and posted the day’s third-fastest time at 2:17.70, more than enough to stake her claim as Division III’s best all-around athlete on this day.

Four other members of the Carleton squad were also in action on Friday. ColetteCelichowski (Jr./Shorewood, Minn./Minnetonka) competed in the prelims of the mile run and recorded a time of 4:59.04, good enough for 10th and the final spot in Saturday’s finals.

EllieWilson (Jr./Roseville, Minn./Roseville) was seeded 16th out the 17 qualifiers in for the 400-meter dash. She finished Friday’s prelims with a school-record time of 57.343 that amazingly only ranked 11th overall in the lightning-fast field.

The Knights’ entry in the distance medley relay also placed 11th with a time of 12:08.09, edging MIAC foe Saint Benedict by 14 seconds. RuthSteinke (So./Lima, N.Y./Honeoye Falls-Lima) and EmmaGrisanzio (Fy./Carol Stream, Ill./Wheaton North) were joined by Wilson, and Celichowski for the event.

“The did a great job,” said Ricks, “though it might not look like it by the finishing time. Ruth was three seconds faster than she normally is. Emma had her fastest split of the season at 60.18, Ellie did a great job on the 800 at 2:16.6 and Collette finished up with the mile at 5:13.

“For Ellie and Colette to compete in two events and to have Amelia win a national championship, what a proud day for women’s track and field at Carleton College!”

Campbell’s result means that the Knights are tied for eighth in the team competition after day one. Saturday’s event schedule for Carleton will include Celichowski in the finals of the mile run, and KaoSutton (Sr./Hilo, Hawaii/Kamehameha Schools Hawaii) competes in the shot put.